First Semester Done!!
26 Dec 2010 Leave a Comment
Sisters
Just finished my first semester of my BSc. Nursing and got a 4.0 Grade Point Average! I am super excited and have been enjoying my time off with my family back home!
Monday Mornin’
13 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
Holla!
I am still in the library, only a few people still in here. It is very different from the Carleton U library, where if you made any kind of noise people would REAM you out. During the day when it is busy, people have long conversations on their cells and talk in groups at their computers! I tried to read some articles today but it was too freakin loud! It’s nice later on though. I have my first group presentation in one of my classes. I am kind of in charge since no one else wanted to start anything. Emailed our prof with all the information, organized who is doing what, booked a private study room for meetings at the library, etc etc. This is ok though, would rather take more control than not get a good mark, think this is going to happen to me a lot though. We have group assignments in each course and already I can tell that most people do not want to speak up for fear of being wrong, or looking stupid. Anyway, you’re either a leader or a follower right! Anyway, I printed off weekly schedules that I made and have been organising my studying/assignments/readings into one hour blocks, between classes, after classes or on days off. So far it is really helpful and a lot of other students want to copy it haha. I also have been passing around a sign-up form for residence students in all my classes, and posted it on our course websites, collecting emails and names and am sending out a list to everyone tonight. This way, any student who has the list can organise a study group/time. I’m just going to post when I’m studying in a study lounge and invite others to join so we can review together and ask each other questions. Thought it was a good idea!! I also have an appointment with the Learning Center on Wednesday to get advice on how to start my first paper. I am meeting with an English professor and once they hire upper year BScNursing students as tutors, can book time with them to have them review my papers for thesis, grammar etc. I haven’t written a paper in a long time so I just want to start off on the right foot. I start training at the student bar on Wednesday for four hours and four hours on Thursday too. Should be pretty easy and fun! Will be able to ask more about hours and if it will be a set schedule. I haven’t gotten a reply yet, but yesterday I emailed the nursing faculty at St.Lawrence and Queens, asking them about prerequisites for university transfer for next year. Just want to know any nitty gritty details now and not later on when it is too late! Anyway, busy week ahead! Lots of reading and meetings!!!
Loving every minute of it!
Proof I’m getting old…
09 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
So, as you know, I have been anticipating the start of my classes this Thursday and have been desperately fighting boredom! Going from working 16 hour shifts, and lots of them to not having to work is hard to adjust to! I occupied my free time by organizing binders, reading all the assigned readings/journals my professors have posted for the next month, researching and applying for awards/bursaries, going for hour long walks around the city, creating a list of email addresses for nursing students in residence for future study group organization, messaging every single person on my facebook, etc etc. It has been nice to take it easy and chill though! Tonight, we had an on campus concert, the band, Down with Webster. I was going to check it out, my little sisters said they were cool, but they were sold out. This is when I felt old….I was more than happy to go for a long walk with my ipod blaring, do my laundry, and work on a pre-lab assignment for FIVE hours! Hahaha. Not very adventurous but hey it was fun for me! I bought this massive 2000+ page medical dictionary for use throughout my RN, and was using it to research some diseases for the lab tomorrow. This pictures of diseases and conditions in this book are sooo disturbing, yet fascinating that it took me forever to get through one definition! Everytime I would look up a new disease, along the way I’d stop and read all about other things that caught my eye! Very interesting book! It better be for what it costs
Today, I woke up to an email from Student Employment, I applied the first day of orientation to a few Work-Study jobs, I’m approved to work! The email said to bring some ID and swing by the Student Center office. I got a “fill this form out” 30 second meet and greet and I’m getting my schedule tomorrow to work at the brand new campus bar. It’s really nice…fireplace, projection screens, stage, 500 seats. The nice thing is through this program it is a maximum of 16 hours a week and they have to schedule you around classes, studying commitments, exams etc. and I’ll get to meet some new people!
Have to go to bed eventually. It’s hard because all I can think about it wearing my new scrubs to class tomorrow!! We get to work in a simulation lab that looks like a real hospital wing…very very cool! Will be back to tell you about my first lab!!
Nursing Toolkit
06 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
The nursing professors gave us all an adorable “welcome to the program toolkit” on the last day of orientation. Included in our toolkit:
- The pencil is for all of the exams and papers we will write
- The elastic is to remind us all to remain flexible
- The crayon is to remind us to be creative in everything that we do
- The jellybean is to remind us to treat ourselves every now and then
- The marble is to remind us that we haven’t totally lost ours
- The balloon is to remind us to have fun
- The tissue is for that first really bad day
- The yarn is to tie around our finger to remind us why we want to be a NURSE
I thought this was really cute and welcoming!! The faculty here seems very compassionate and eager to be there for us, help, coach, and share personal experiences and stories. I am so excited that w have already got to talk to our professors and ask them questions! In previous postsecondary experiences, I would try to talk to my professors but, with 400 other students in my classes they rarely remembered me!! I start my first class, which is a lab, on Thursday and it seems like forever until Thursday is going to be here! I might go get the tattoo I’ve been waiting to get tomorrow afternoon with my friend from nursing! Pretty nervous but excited to finally get it! I will be back with udates soon!!
Hello world!
02 Sep 2010 1 Comment
Hello everyone!!! I am almost finished my orientation week at Cambrian College! Moved up here on Sunday with Dad’s help. Lucked into a massive apartment style dorm. Intended for disabled students, of which they didn’t need the room for, we got it and its a pink palace!!! Move-in was fairly easy…we loaded some abandoned grocery carts and I looked drunk weaving it across the gravel driveway and into the elevators but it did the trick! This week I’ve had Nursing specific info sessions, where we handed in our immunizations, Cpr, whmis etc etc, got class schedules, budgeting, stress management, learned about which equipment to buy etc etc. Sounds a bit boring but they had some fun games and contests along the way and it was great to meet our 12 faculty, who are all RN’s, and the other 15 students in my section for the year! I went with a girl I met from class to buy our scrubs at Lasalle Uniform on Tuesday. I got bright sky blue with black stretch inserts and they are very fun and stylin’. Even Baby Phat has a line of scrubs!! I have been waiting forever to have my very own scrubs so it was very exciting to try them all on. We also got out $1000+ worth of first term textbooks, and that’s minus one class which I’m exempt from! Very pricy. I got the very most exciting thing that day too…my very own stethoscope! It’s “raspberry” pink and I love it. I tried to hear my own heartbeat and that doesn’t work so well so I tested it out on my roommate and whoever else would let me! I was so excited about getting my new items that I decided to take a self photo shoot last night at around 11pm. Went to the bathroom since I don’t have a mirror up in my room yet. Took a bunch of nurse-posing pics then turned around and realized my door shut to my room and I’m locked out!!! So…Barefoot and red-cheeked I knocked on my R.A’s door…he’s not in. Trekked downstairs to the main lobby where 10+ residence staff are chilling. Had to be talked about over walkie talkie like I’m a silly little frosh…I guess which I am. One guy told me I was very attractive so that was cool. They were all really nice actually, I think my charm helped, didn’t charge me the normal fee and escorted me upstairs to unlock my room. They were really jealous of my huge pink palace of course 
